Page 74 of Ballad of Sea and Sky

But maybe ithadchanged things for me. More and more, I was thinking about his proposal to go with him. To learn about his people.

To marry him.

You are not merely friends, Little Goddess,Ran said with an air of knowing.Anyone with even one eye can see that.

“Well there’s not much I can do about that anyway,” I said snappishly, trying to clear my mind for another attempt at the lake. “How much longer do you think it will take me to master enough control that I can force Morar out? It’s been two weeks now.”

You have uncommonly strong magic, Ran said.

He mentioned this frequently, although whenever I asked he couldn’t offer me an explanation as to why he believed that. He said he simplyknew.

“So, days?” I asked. “Weeks?”

Perhaps, Ran replied, canting his head to study me.With rigorous practice, no more than a year.

I choked on the water I had been drinking, spluttering into the moss. “You’re joking, right?” I replied, wiping the water from my face with my bare arm.

Time means very little to water,Ran replied in his circular way.I said nomorethan a year.Try again.

I sighed, taking a deep breath and opening my water sense. The first few times I had tried this, I had let Morar overwhelm me by opening up too fast. I had learned now to begin more slowly, working from the sea to Ran’s stream, and then mapping all of the other small streams and pools on the island. The lake became a black spot of nothingness. I grounded myself in the safe waters of the land, urging them up to help calm the raging tempest that was Morar.

I sensed Ran and the other kelpies, and I called their essences to my aid as well, willing the water to surround my mind like a wall, guarding it from Morar’s wrath.

Reaching out to his lake was the last step and one I had begun to fear. It hurt, feeling his vengeful spirit try to claw its way into my soul, and the seas had to yank hard to pull me back.

Fear will lead to failure, Little Goddess, I heard Ran say amidst the waters of my mind.Know yourself, and you cannot be vanquished.

“Less cryptic instruction might result in better outcomes,” I hissed, momentarily losing focus. The pools and streams in my mind shuddered, and Ran neighed irritably.

Focus, Little Goddess.

I pulled back into my water sense, the pools and streams solidifying again in my mind.Here goes nothing,I thought as I opened the barest sliver of my senses to Morar.

If the kelpies of this island were tinkling drops of dew, Morar was a hurricane of violent winds and hail. He roared at me to give in to him, to let him have me and the lake and the others, and he clawed at my mind as if he had hands instead of hooves.

But I didn’t faint. I didn’t let him overwhelm me. This time, I pushed him back out.

Well done, Little Goddess, Ran said, his tone approving for the first time since we had begun to practice.

“I didn’t actually do anything,” I panted, letting myself fall to the ground and wheezing, the strain triggering my lungs to misbehave. I’d been lucky with a few good days in a row, but clearly, my luck was ending.

You forced him out,Ran reminded me.You held the borders of your own mind. It is a first step.

“And how many more steps?” I panted, feeling utterly spent.

Magic is like a muscle,Ran intoned. It was rather odd, being lectured by a water horse, but Ran was the lecturing type.It must be stretched and pulled and exhausted to grow. Take the afternoon to rest.

He nosed me, leaving a cold, wet splotch on my cheek, and I laughed and rubbed it away.

I will take you back if you wish it, Ran said.I promise not to drown you.

“Such a reassuring vow to make,” I quipped, climbing onto Ran’s back.

He had renewed his offer to let me ride him, and I thrilled a little at the sensation of the kelpie under me, solid and yet not as he flew over the ground in a blur of magic.

He didn’t slow to a walk until we neared the little hut. Caspian was nowhere in sight, so I assumed he must be fishing on the beach.

I will take you home, too,Ran said as I slid off his back,when your debt is paid.